Perumál Murugan Livres

Upset with her cheating friends, Poonachi walks off in a huff. Into the forest … deeper and deeper. It gets dark and scary, but it is also magical. And she’s truly free. Will this little goat be able to live in the forest forever? The much-loved black baby goat from Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi returns in this tale of adventure, wonder and belonging.Upset with her cheating friends, Poonachi walks off in a huff. Into the forest … deeper and deeper. It gets dark and scary, but it is also magical. And she’s truly free. Will this little goat be able to live in the forest forever? The much-loved black baby goat from Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi returns in this tale of adventure, wonder and belonging.

'A powerful novel . . . [Murugan] recounts the everyday brutality of caste society in relentless detail'-The Hindu Shorty, a young untouchable farmhand, is in bondage to a paternal yet powerful landlord. He spends his days herding sheep and tilling the fields, caught between the rigours of an unforgiving life and the solace he finds in nature and the company of his friends. He struggles to keep a fragile happiness, but endless work and a stubborn hunger gnaw away at his spirited innocence. And before long, Shorty must confront the unyielding reality of his situation. Poignant and powerful, Seasons of the Palm is merciless in its portrayal of the daily humiliations of untouchablility, but is also lyrical in its evocation of the grace with which the oppressed come to terms with their dark fate. '[Murugan's] characters, dialogues and locales are unerringly drawn and intensely evocative . . . A superb writer'-Indian Express 'The most accomplished of his generation of Tamil writers'-Caravan

'With tender rage, one of India's most powerful living writers breathes life into an age-old tale of forbidden passion' - Nilanjana Roy

From one of India's best-known writers and the author of the National Book Award-longlisted One Part Woman comes a charming and surprising tale of an orphaned goat and the family that decides to take care of her, despite the potential cost to them

One Part Woman tells the story of Kali and Ponna, a South Indian couple perfectly content in their marriage, aside from one thing - they are unable to conceive. Quickly attracting gossip and familial disapproval, they try everything they can to have a child, from offerings at temples to atoning for the misdeeds of their ancestors, but each attempt brings fresh disappointment. Their final hope rests on the annual chariot festival, a celebration of a god who is one-part woman, one-part man. For one night, the rules of marriage are relaxed and consensual sex between unmarried men and women is overlooked, for all men are considered gods. Could this be the opportunity they've been searching for? Both tender and bitingly critical, One Part Woman is a powerful tale of marriage formed and deformed by social custom and anxiety

Ill-paid and always tired, Sathi finds relief from the tedium of the everyday in marijuana, and the company of his friends - vulnerable, desperate young men, who work around the theatre and alternately bully and support each other. An intense and tender friendship with one of the men sustains Sathi, until a train of events casts the meagre certainties of his days and nights into disarray.

A king decrees that all humans be skinned alive. A man runs from words that hound him like a pack of wolves. A legion of white snakes sweeps across a land blighted by drought. A beleaguered soul laments the loss of a homeland. A coward's many virtues are lauded to disturbing effect. By turns passionate, elegiac, angry, tender, nightmarish and courageous, the poems in Songs of a Coward weave an exquisite tapestry of rich images and turbulent emotions. Written during a period of immense personal turmoil, these verses are an enduring testament to the resilience of an imagination under siege and the liberating power of words in one's darkest moments.